


Planet Metaverse: In The Dark

by Merkwerkee



Series: Planet Metaverse Sidestories [3]
Category: Masters of the Metaverse
Genre: basically a lot of weird stuff got locked in the homeverse when it was lock, these are their stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22856380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merkwerkee/pseuds/Merkwerkee
Summary: Emma gets scared by her parents arguing, so she goes to the next best parental figure she's found: Growly
Series: Planet Metaverse Sidestories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643125





	Planet Metaverse: In The Dark

Emma lay in bed with her covers pulled up over her head and tried desperately to keep from crying.

She didn’t _like_ it when her mother and her Daddy fought; it made her want to curl up and hide, even when she was already supposed to be asleep, like now. But she hadn’t been able to sleep right away and she could hear the shouting coming up through the vents even when she covered her head with her pillow. Her Daddy was angry about Julio? And her mother was screaming back about business trips? But Julio was nice to her, and it wasn’t Daddy’s fault his job sent him away so often!

Emma wanted to go down there and shout at them both to _stop it!_ but she’d been tucked into bed and was supposed to be asleep and she didn’t want to make things worse by not being asleep when she was supposed to be. It wasn’t until she heard glass break downstairs that she _just_ couldn’t take it any more.

She shuffled over to the window and pushed it open, not caring if she set off the alarm like her mother warned her about. The screen was gone a moment later, and Emma climbed out onto the roof. It took a moment to orient herself - everything looked so _different_ at night! - but the moon was big in the sky and showed her the tree beside the house pretty clearly, and Emma managed to get into its branches with a minimum of fuss and muss.

Then she was down to the ground and off like a shot, heading for the one place she knew she wouldn’t get yelled at or scared.

The littlest park on the corner.

She ran as fast as she could in her pajamas, and didn’t stop for the roads like Julio the Gardener told her to do. Fortunately, it was late enough at night that no-one was driving, and Emma made it to the park in record time. She didn’t slow down when she hit the trees, too tired and hurting on the inside to care, and as soon as she got under the foliage the moonlight cut out abruptly. It was very dark under the trees but she kept on moving blindly, stumbling over roots and through bushes, tears running down her face making it even harder to see, until finally she tripped and fell.

Bruised, both knees skinned, in a dark forest, alone, and _really really_ upset, Emma wailed.

Rustling of some nearby bushes brought her whipping around and for one _awful_ second some big monster loomed out of the darkness. It was big and tall and had a weird crown, and for a terrified instant Emma recalled the tales of the monsters who lived in the woods and came out at night to eat children. She caught her breath to scream, and -

“Emma. What is wrong? Why are you out of your den this late?”

The warm, wonderfully familiar voice that spoke between her ears rang out and she saw the six glowing orbs that he had for eyes. It was Growly!

Emma leaped forward and clung to his neck, sobbing in a mixture of relief and upset. “Mom and Daddy were fighting, an’ I was s'posed to be asleep but they were loud an’ then I heard glass an’, an’ then I came here an’ it was dark an’ then I tripped, an’ an’ an’ -” Words failed her, and she buried her face in the wonderfully soft fur of his ruff.

She could feel him shift around her, big heavy walking paws pulling her closer before smaller hand-paws joined them and cradled her gently. She hiccuped, and he began to sing in his enchanting voice.

_Sing soft  
Above the flashing wave  
Sleep soft  
In the sandy cave  
Dream soft  
Seek the pretty colors  
Feel soft  
Drink the joy of others  
Rest you sweetly now  
You are safe  
Here in this bough_

As he sang, her tears slowly ran out of her and by the end she was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open.

“Emma. They will be looking for you,”

His voice was gentle and not angry, and Emma loved him a little more.

“Mom won’t wake up until noon and Daddy always spends the night somewhere else when they fight,” she told him with a pang that had her wriggling closer to his wonderfully soft and furry chest. She could feel his breathing against her cheek, and the weird ba-da-da-dump of his heartbeat thudded softly in time to his breathing.

“Then I think a night in my den would most benefit you.”

Growly didn’t end his words like a question, but Emma nodded anyway and prepared herself to be put down to walk to where he lived. To her surprise, he instead shifted his hand-paws and one of his big walking paws to keep her against his chest. Like Daddy used to do before she got too big, and the thought had her burying her face in his fur.

Growly said nothing and instead began walking in a bumpy three-limbed gait. Rocks and branches that would have tripped her seem to just magically not be where his feet landed, and the rocking motion had her nearly asleep by the time they reach the big tree. Growly paused for a long moment as they got there, his fur silvered in the moonlight that came through the branches, and Emma wanted to ask him what’s wrong but he moved before she could.

Sidling up to his den, she can feel his grip on her shift in the instant before he laid down and scootched up into the safety of the tree’s roots. Emma’d never been under the roots before - her mother didn’t like it if she came home with dirty clothes, no matter how interesting the place she’d gotten dirty had been - but with Growly there it felt warm. Safe. He hummed the lullaby again in between her ears as he moved and settled, and she couldn’t help the smile on her face as she finally drifted off.

_Murem regarded Emma with concern. He’d heard her long before he’d seen her, and she hadn’t heard him the first several times he’d called. It was only the bright spike of fear when she’d seen him that had let him contact her, and that would be more concerning if she hadn’t been broadcasting images of native predators into his head strongly in that instant. He sighed and set his internal wake-up to just before the planet’s primary star rose over the horizon; he was already so hopelessly burned that he could never present himself to the Seat of Capisten again, but he’d prefer not to have to deal with worried kit’s guardians or the persistent itching caused by excess solar radiation if he didn’t have to._

_Twisting a little, he managed to lay his head over Emma’s lower half and went to sleep._

Something was tickling her nose, and she batted it away. It came back, and she batted it away again. It came back for a third time, and was this time accompanied by words.

“Emma. It’s time to wake up.”

She made a protesting noise and buried her face in the wonderfully warm and soft fur beneath her. It was the best sleep she’d ever gotten, and she didn’t _want_ to wake up yet!

She could feel his chuckle beneath her cheek and his amusement lit a warm glow in her heart as it echoed between her ears.

“Very well, but you will need to get up on my back when I tell you to; I cannot make the journey on three legs.”

Emma responded with a very sleepy yes and held on stubbornly as she felt him start shifting underneath her. Maybe a little dirt fell on her as he moved, but she didn’t care. She did care that the morning air outside the den was much, much cooler than the morning air inside the den, and at her noise of protest she felt Growly chuckle again.

He didn’t say anything though, just started lifting her with his hand-paws up onto this back. She accepted the change in position ungraciously, then stretched out along his back to keep as much of herself in contact with his body heat as she could. He held on to her with his hand-paws, and with a speed that had a breeze blowing through her hair he began heading up out of the park.

His paws faltered when they hit the sidewalk, but Emma had walked this way so many times now she felt like she could probably do it in her sleep and she closed her eyes to think hard about the way back. Growly’s pace resumed, each bound eating up space it would have taken her a few minutes even running at her full speed to cover.

Sooner than she thought possible, they were at her house; she’d left her window open last night in her hurry, and it took Growly a single bound to get up next to it. He was _really_ too big to fit through, though, and Emma had to slide off his back to go inside.

She missed the warmth of his body as soon as she’d gotten off, with an almost physical ache behind her heart, but his words helped.

“If you are ever in distress again, do not hesitate to seek me. I will keep you safe against the whole world if need be. I look forward to our next meeting.”

Emma had crawled through the window into her room as he spoke, and at her nod he turned and bounded away as the first rays of dawn broke over the horizon.

She looked down at her pajamas. Not only were they dirty, but they were covered in green fur; if her mother found them she’d be mad. Emma pulled the pajamas off and stuffed them under her bed before struggling into a new pair and climbing into said bed. She held Growly’s voice tight to her heart and closed her eyes to get a little more sleep before anyone came looking for her.

She _loved_ Growly.


End file.
